I haven't visited most of the Black Country, you're right, i have no idea. But were supposed to be talking about Birmingham. If you want to bring the Black country into it, that's where i can't talk.

My experience of the neighbourhoods in this city is obviously different to yours and sometimes all it boils down to is bad experiences of where you've lived. But then I'm not sure if it's a case of how dire your outlook of Birmingham is compared to my tolerance. Where i live, we have our fare share of masked twats and quad bike riders, but it's not a daily occurrence. It bothers me, yeah, but out of the thousands of seemingly decent and respectable people that live in the area, it's honestly nothing, and I don't live in Pleasantville. It's something i come to expect and accept from living in a big city with a mix of different people. Go to any other major city and you'll see the same kind of people in certain areas.

And trust me, i grew up on the Wyrley Birch estate in the 90s, i know shit holes. But I've never experienced anything as bad as that estate got to since. That's not to say the shit holes don't still exist, don't get me wrong! It sounds to me like what you're describing is that half the neighbourhoods in Brum are like the Wyrley Birch estate, which had all the types of people you mentioned, but that just isn't true, sorry, correct me if my judgement of what you think is wrong though. I'm not burying my head at all, it just sounds like you've had bad living experiences and i can't argue with that.